What is the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme and how does it work?
The Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme is a statute-based scheme that commenced in December 2018 with the intention of providing the Australian government and public with “visibility of the nature, level and extent of foreign influence on Australia’s government and politics”.
How does it work?
The scheme requires all foreign entities, organisations, and individuals to register their intended activities in Australia on a government registration portal – the details of which, with the exception of commercial/politically sensitive or national security-related information, will be published on the publicly accessible Transparency Register.
Registrable Activities
The Attorney-General’s office identifies four types of acceptable registrable activities in Australia:
- Parliamentary Lobbying: influencing members or staffers of parliament
- General Political Lobbying: intending to influence:
- a public official;
- Commonwealth agency;
- Federal election candidate; or
- A registered political party or political campaigner
- Communications Activity: publicly shared or published information such as a journal article or a post on a social media platform
- Disbursement Activity: using money, gifts, or other items of value
Foreign Principals and Activities
A foreign principal is any foreign government or government-related entity, individual, or political organisation – such as a foreign political party, consulate, or individual acting on behalf of a foreign government.
Factsheet 16: Recordkeeping
Factsheet 16, which covers the topic of recordkeeping obligations, lays out what records and information registrants they are expected to lodge, the consequences of failing to comply (by, for example, destroying, concealing or damaging records), for what period of time they must keep records, and the justifications for these processes and procedures.
Transparency Objectives
Registrants are encouraged to ensure that all the information they provide is up-to-date – before, during, and after registration, and thus compliant with the scheme and its legislative requirements, as set out in the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act 2018 (FITSA).
By keeping information up-to-date, registrants provide the Australian government and public with a clear and accurate understanding of what activities they are carrying out on behalf of a foreign principal on Australian soil.
Record Details
During the period of time in which a registrant is engaging in activities in Australia, the Attorney-General’s office may request more information from them in the form of additional documents, information, or material, should they feel that the information provided up to that point was not sufficient or detailed enough to ensure compliance with the scheme.
Supporting Information
Factsheet 16 notes that registrants can be expected to supply more information than the Attorney-General’s office might need or require, including:
- All disbursement details, regardless of the amount (even if below the election donation threshold)
- The nature, basis, and details of all benefits provided during engagements on behalf of a foreign principal
Keeping Records
Registrants engaging in registrable activities in Australia are expected to maintain records of the following:
- Registrable activities they undertake on behalf of a foreign principal
- Benefits (e.g. money or non-pecuniary advantages) a foreign principal has provided the registrant
- Any registrable communications-related activity or information related to a foreign principal
- all registrable arrangements between the registrant and a foreign principal
- any information distributed/communicated to the public on behalf of a foreign principal
Record Duration
The length of time for which a registrant must keep records of their activities is laid out in sections 40(1) and 40(1A) of FITSA, which specifies that records must be kept during the course of a registrant’s registered activities and for three years after registration ends.
Section 40(1A) supplements this by stating that “a person is not required to keep any particular record for more than 10 years from the day the record was made”.
Non-Compliance
Should a registrant fail to maintain records, or destroy, damage, or conceal records, their actions will be treated as an offense and result in penalties as a result of their non-compliance.
Key Takeaways
Keeping accurate and up-to-date records both before, during, and after registration is important in ensuring that persons engaging in registrable activities in Australia support and remain complaint with the transparency objectives and legal requirements of the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme.
